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Catherine Tamis-LeMonda

Professor of Applied Psychology; Program Director of Developmental Psychology

Applied Psychology

About

I conduct my research at NYU Steinhardt's Play and Language Lab, where we examine infant and toddler learning and development in social and cultural contexts. I seek to understand how developing skills across a variety of domains reciprocally affect one another concurrently and over time (the theoretical construct of “developmental cascades”). In particular, we study infants' language, communication, and play/exploratory behaviors, and how mothers’ and fathers’ interactions with children –such as contingent responsiveness and richness of child-directed language – relate to children’s developmental trajectories and, conversely, how emerging skills in children influence their everyday learning experiences and interactions with parents. We examine these bi-directional processes in children from diverse economic and ethnic backgrounds using longitudinal analyses, naturalistic observations at home, laboratory studies, and interviews with parents. Our research team includes undergraduates, Masters students, PhD candidates, and postdoctoral fellows who share a commitment to advancing a nuanced understanding of how learning and development unfolds in different cultural and ethnic groups in the United States and internationally.

Publications

The publications listed here represent journal articles from the past 5 years. Full list appears on our lab website.

  1. Ribner, A., Swirbul, M., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2026). Exposure to Number Talk in Infancy Predicts Later Mathematic Skills. Learning & Individual Differences.
  2. Riley, S., Soska, K., Libertus, M., Cabrera, N., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2026). Mothers’ and Fathers’ Multimodal Behaviors Scaffold Toddlers’ Spatial Behaviors. Cognitive Development.
  3. Herzberg, O., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Shilling, M., & Adolph, K.E (2026). How infants learn (to walk): Transitions are a fundamental component of practice. Developmental Psychology. 
  4. Lai, K. H., Shi, H., Masek, L. R., Suarez‐Rivera, C., & Tamis‐LeMonda, C. S. (2026). Infants' Multimodal Requests and Protests Elicit Responses from Mothers During Everyday Home Activities. Infancy, 31(3), e70094.
  5. Lai, K. H., Shi, H., Pan, Y., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2026). Development of a Vocabulary Inventory for English-Mandarin Dual-Language-Learning Infants and Toddlers. Behavioral Sciences, 16(7), 1143.
  6. Masek, L. R., & Tamis-LeMonda, C.S. (2026). Infant learning in social-cultural context. In D. Amso (Ed.), Handbook of Attention, Memory, and Cognition, Oxford University Press.
  7. Suarez-Rivera, C., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2026). Feedback loops in everyday interactions: Pathways from social contingency to language learning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 381, 1943.
  8. Suarez-Rivera, C., Fouhey, D., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2026). Characterizing the input and target referents for word learning during infants’ everyday activities, IEEE Proceedings of the International Conference on Development and Learning.
  9. West, K.L., Manikkan, R., Adolph, K.E., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2026). Opportunities for word learning: Objects, infant locomotion, and verb input. Child Development.  
  10. Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2026). Ecologically-grounded observations offer unique insights into the embodied and embedded nature of infant learning. Human Development, Special Issue: Beyond Dualism: Embodiment and Development. Vol. 69, 282-301.
  11. Abney, D., Fausey, C., Suarez-Rivera, C., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2025). Advancing a temporal science of behavior. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 29, 12, pp 1109-1110. 
  12. Masek, L. R., Silver, A. Libertus, M., Cabrera, C., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2025). Mother, father, and toddler spatial language in English and Spanish during play: Associations with toddlers’ emerging spatial cognition. Learning and Instruction.
  13. Masek, L. R., Suarez-Rivera, C., Ossmy, O., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2025). The temporal distribution of speech to infants highlights relatedness among words, Journal of Experimental: General, Vol. 154, 12, 3518-3530.
  14. Swirbul, M., Silver, A., Cabrera, N., Libertus, M. & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2025). Father, mother, and toddler spatial talk in a favorite activity: Associations with gender, dominant language, and activity choice. Cognitive Development, 75, 101586.
  15. Adolph, K. E., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2024). Self-recognition: From touching the body to knowing the self. Current Biology, 34(6), R239-R241.
  16. Lai, K. H., Swirbul, M. S., Cabrera, N., Libertus, M. E., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2024). Fathers’ and Mothers’ Socialization Goals for Their Young Children: Similarities, Differences, and Couple Agreement. Parenting: Science & Practice, 1-22.
  17. Masek, L. R., Mendelsohn, A., Escobar, K., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2024). Routine Language Intervention: Supporting Spanish-Speaking Mothers’ Talk to Toddlers During Everyday Routines. Parenting: Science & Practice, 24(4), 119-143.
  18. Masek, L. R., Swirbul, M. S., Silver, A.M., Libertus, M. E., Cabrera, N., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2024).  Math talk by mothers, fathers, and toddlers: Differences across materials and associations with children’s math understanding. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 246, 105911.
  19. Suarez-Rivera, C., Fletcher, K. K., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2024). Infants’ Home Auditory Environment: Backgrounds Sounds Shape Language Interactions. Developmental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001762 
  20. Swirbul, M. S., Shahnooshi, M., Ho, R., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2024). Math Talk to Infants During Everyday Home Activities: Contextual Cues to Words About Number, Space, and Magnitude. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1-24.
  21. Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Lai, K., & Swirbul, M. (2024). Natural behavior in everyday settings. In J. J. Lockman & C. Yu (Eds.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior: Natural Behavior. Elsevier.
  22. Tamis‐LeMonda, C. S., Kachergis, G., Masek, L. R., Gonzalez, S. L., Soska, K. C., Herzberg, O., ... & Yurovsky, D. (2024). Comparing apples to manzanas and oranges to naranjas: A new measure of English‐Spanish vocabulary for dual language learners. Infancy.
  23. Kaplan, B. E., Kasaba, I., Rachwani, J., Adolph, K. E., & Tamis‐LeMonda, C. S. (2023). How mothers help children learn to use everyday objects. Developmental psychobiology, 65(8), e22435.
  24. Karasik, L., Adolph, K.  E., Robinson, S., Fernandez, S., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2023). Gahvora cradling in Tajikistan: Cultural practices and associations with motor development. Child Development.
  25. Silver, A.M., Chen, Y., Smith, D. K., Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., Cabrera, N., Libertus, M.E. (2023). Mothers’ and fathers’ engagement in math activities with their toddler sons and daughters: The moderating role of parental math belief. Frontiers in Psychology, section Developmental Psychology.
  26. Silver, A. M., Swirbul, M., Tamis‐LeMonda, C. S., Cabrera, N., & Libertus, M. E. (2023). Investigating associations between parent engagement and toddlers' mathematics performance. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 41(4), 412-445.
  27. Suarez-Rivera, C., Pinheiro-Mehta, N., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2023). Within arms reach: Physical proximity shapes mother-infant language exchanges in real-time. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 64, 101298.
  28. Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., & Masek, L. (2023). Embodied and Embedded Learning: Child, Caregiver, and Context. Current Directions in Psychological Science.
  29. Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2023). The mountain stream of infant development. Infancy, 468-491.
  30. West, K.L., Saleh, A.N., Adolph, K.E., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2023). Go, go, go!” Mothers’ verbs align with infants’ locomotion, Developmental Science.
  31. Gennetian, L., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., & Frank, M. (2022). Open Science in Developmental Science. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4, 377-397.
  32. Herzberg, O., Fletcher, K. K., Schatz, J. L., Adolph, K. E., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). Infant exuberant object play at home: Immense amounts of time-distributed, variable practice. Child Development, 93(1), 150-164.
  33. Kaplan, B., Rachwani, J., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., & Adolph, K. E. (2022). The Process of Learning the Designed Actions of Toys, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 221, 105442. 
  34. McCallum, J., Suh, D. D., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). Children's real-time behaviors during a model replication task. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 79, 101391.
  35. Mendelsohn, A. Suarez-Rivera, C., Suh, D., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). Word by word: Everyday math talk in the homes of Hispanic families. Language Learning & Development, 1-18.
  36. Pace, A., Rojas, R., Bakeman, R., Adamson, L. B., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Caughy, M. O. B., ... & Suma, K. (2022). A Longitudinal Study of Language Use During Early Mother-Child Interactions in Spanish-Speaking Families Experiencing Low Income. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research, 65(1), 303-319.
  37. Schatz, J. L., Suarez-Rivera, C., Kaplan, B. E., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). Infants' object interactions are long and complex during everyday joint engagement. Developmental Science, e13239.
  38. Suarez-Rivera, C., Linn, E., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). From Play to Language: Infants’ Actions on Objects Cascade to Word Learning, Language Learning, 72 (4), 1092-1127. vision
  39. Suarez-Rivera, C., Schatz, J. L., Herzberg, O., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). Joint engagement in the home environment is frequent, multimodal, timely, and structured. Infancy.
  40. Swirbul, M., Herzberg, O., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). Object Play in the Everyday Home Environment Generates Rich Opportunities for Infant Learning, Infant Behavior & Development.
  41. Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). Foreword: Being Sensitive to the Next Steps in the Area of Maternal Sensitivity. In P. Alvarenga, M. Angeles Cerezo, & Y. Kuchirko (Eds.). The Maternal Sensitivity Program: A Model for Promoting Infant Development in Challenging Contexts. Springer.
  42. West, K. L., Fletcher, K. K., Adolph, K. E., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2022). Mothers’ talk about infants’ actions: How verbs correspond to infants’ real-time behavior. Developmental Psychology, 58(3), 405–416.  
  43. Adamson, L., Caughy, M.O., Bakeman, R., Rojas, R., Owen, M. T., Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., Pacheco, D., Pace, A., & Suma, K. (2021). The quality of mother-toddler communication predicts language and early literacy in Mexican American children from low-income households. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 56, 167-179.
  44. Alvarenga, P., Kurchirko, Y., Cerezo M. A., Euclides, J. deM. F., Bakeman, R., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2021). An intervention focused on maternal sensitivity enhanced mothers’ verbal responsiveness to infants. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 76, 101313.
  45. Lockman, J. J., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2021). Young Children's Interactions with Objects: Play as Practice and Practice as Play. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 3, 165-186.
  46. Masek, L. R., McMillan, B.T.M., Paterson, S. J., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh Pasek, K. (2021). Where language meets attention: How contingent interactions promote learning. Developmental Review, 60, 100961. 
  47. Rachwani, J., Kaplan, B. E., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., & Adolph, K. E. (2021). Children’s use of everyday artifacts: Learning the hidden affordance of zipping. Developmental Psychobiology, 63 (4), 793-799. 
  48. Silver, A. M., Elliott, L., Braham, E.J., Bachman, H. J., Votruba-Drzal, E., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Cabrera, N., & Libertus, M. (2021). Measuring emerging number knowledge in toddlers. Frontiers in Psychology: Developmental Psychology, 
  49. Soska, K. C., Xu, M., Gonzalez, S. L., Herzberg, O., Tamis-LeMonda C. S., Gilmore R. O., & Adolph, K. E. (2021). (Hyper)active data curation: A video case study from behavioral science. Journal of eScience Librarianship, 10(3): e1208, 1-22.

Programs

Applied Psychology

The interdisciplinary Applied Psychology program develops students who can bridge psychological theory, research, and practice in a multicultural world.

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Developmental Psychology

Prepare for a career as a professor, researcher, or human services professional, or a director or evaluator of mental health and health promotion programs.

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